Body and health
Dreaming of teeth falling out in Islam
Did this dream upset you?Seek Allah’s protection, blow lightly three times to your left, turn onto your other side, pray if you can, and tell no one: “it will not harm you”.Details and sources
Seek Allah’s protection, three times
Against the evil of this dream and against Satan. The wording given by al-Nawawi: “aʿūdhu billāhi mina sh-shayṭāni wa min sharrihā” — I seek refuge with Allah from Satan and from the evil of this dream. (al-Bukhari 7044 · Muslim 2262 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
Blow lightly three times to your left
The narrations say “blow” (nafth), “spit lightly” (tafl) or “spit” (basq): a light breath, to drive Satan away. (Muslim 2261 · al-Bukhari 7044 · Muslim 2262)
Turn over onto your other side
Change the side you were sleeping on. (Muslim 2262)
Get up and pray
If you can; al-Nawawi recommends two units of prayer (rakʿa). (Muslim 2263 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
Tell no one about it
Neither recount it nor seek to have it interpreted. A Bedouin dreamt that his head was cut off; the Prophet ﷺ told him: “Do not tell of how Satan toys with you in your sleep.” (al-Bukhari 7045 · Muslim 2263 · Muslim 2268 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
“It will not harm him”: that is the promise of the hadith. Al-Nawawi adds that doing only some of these acts is enough, by Allah’s leave. (al-Bukhari 7045 · al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
In short
Teeth stand for family members: men above, women below. What happens to a tooth concerns the relative it represents, and where it falls changes the meaning.
A summary of the passages quoted below. These are authors’ interpretations, not a prediction: a dream is understood through the dreamer and all its details.
What the interpretation books say
al-Nabulusi — Taʿṭīr al-Anām fī Taʿbīr al-Manām
(سن) هي في المنام دالة على منتهى الأجل والسن الذي كتب له وجميع الأسنان تدل على الأولاد وربما دلت الأسنان على المال
A tooth in a dream indicates the end of one’s term and the age written for him. All the teeth together stand for one’s children, and teeth may also stand for wealth.
فإن أمسكها ولم يدفنها فإنه يستفيد بدلها من يكون له مثل ذلك القريب الذي ينسب إليه تلك السن في التأويل
If he keeps it [in hand] without burying it, he gains in its place someone who will be to him like the relative that tooth represents.
Muntakhab al-Kalām fī Tafsīr al-Aḥlām (attributed to Ibn Sirin)
Attribution to Ibn Sirin rejected: why
وأما الأسنان فإنهم أهل بيت الرجل فالعليا هم الرجال من أهل البيت والسفلى هم النساء
Teeth are the members of a man’s household: the upper ones are the men of the house, the lower ones the women.
وحركة بعض الأسنان دليل على ما هو تأويله في المرض وسقوطه وضياعه دليل على موته أو غيبته عنه غيبة من لايعود إليه فإن أصابه بعد ما فقده فإنه يرجع
A loose tooth indicates illness for the one it represents; its falling or loss indicates his death, or an absence from which he does not return. If he finds it again after losing it, [that relative] comes back.
وقيل من رأى أسنانه العليا سقطت في يده فهو مال يصير إليه فإن رآها سقطت في حجره فهو ابن لقوله تعالى (ويكلم الناس في المهد) يعني في الحجر فإن رآها سقطت إلى الأرض فهي الموت
It has also been said: whoever sees his upper teeth fall into his hand, it is wealth coming to him; if he sees them fall into his lap, it is a son, after the verse “He will speak to people in the cradle”, meaning in the lap; if he sees them fall to the ground, it is death.
Keep in mind
- An interpretation is a human effort: Abu Bakr himself was partly wrong before the Prophet ﷺ. (al-Bukhari 7046 and Muslim 2269)
- Appearances deceive: an unpleasant-looking dream may be interpreted as good, and vice versa. (al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 15/18)
- A dream is not a fatwa: make no serious decision on its strength alone. (al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim 1/115)
Related symbols
- The dead, deathSeeing a deceased person looking happy is, for both books, a good sign for him; seeing him alive announces relief. Dreaming of one’s own death has varied meanings: a journey, poverty, repentance or even marriage.
- HairHair is, for al-Nabulusi, wealth and long life: hair growing longer announces a long life. Shaving the head is fulfilling a trust and being safe; for a woman, hair cut outside the pilgrimage announces a quarrel with her husband.
- EyesThe eye stands, for al-Nabulusi, for the dreamer’s religion and insight, which tells guidance from error; seeing many eyes on one’s body announces an increase in religion and righteousness.
All the symbols in the dictionary